The Life Of Edmund Pettus Bridge Over The Alabama River

It was one night on february 8, 1968 that i was walking down the street and then i noticed that there was a protest going on down the street. It was at the moment that i heard gunshots so i took cover near the closest object and i poked my head out to see what was going on. I looked out to see protesters shooting and officers with their guns out. I heard fear in everyone's voice as they were running away screaming “help me” and “watch out”. I didn't know it was that serious till i heard gunshots and seen people running. When i new it was serious i started getting more scared of what would happen i thought to myself should i stay and hide or should i get up and run away. I decided to stay and watch so i could tell people what happen and to be a

This article started out as a post on Facebook, where I openly expressed my pain and frustration surrounding the death of Sandra Bland, and the possibility that the black community has some culpability in her demise. I felt the need to share it on a broader platform, while expanding on the concept on which I make my claim. Let’s discuss, with veracity, what happened to Sandra Bland.

I shiver at the sound, there is only one person in the room who would cause me any harm, the scout was up. It was impressive he could move after being tossed around like a rag doll, greater so he had the strength to lay his hands on me. Unluckily for him I knew where all his wounds were. As his grip tightens I swing my arm to where his upper abdomen would be. He grunt of pain tells me I found it. His grip loosens and I push him away from me. The man doesn’t stumble very far, but the look on his face told me he wasn’t used to being beaten. Assessing my threat level, he charges. I have hardly any time to block his swing and milliseconds before it happens, I know he isn’t going for my face. There is a crack from my leg and pain shoots from my ankle. I scream in agony. The scout pins me down, I should have left him in the woods after

Stakeholder 2: Hello, I am Michelle Carter, I am a black female, 36 years of age. I was a single mother raising a child in the lower side of Chicago. I had a son, his name was Zack Carter and he was murdered last night by a pig. A white man who was just trigger happy and felt justified by what he had done because he was a police officer. Just a racist man who shot my son because he thought my son was like any other black person probably selling drugs or something. I did make a domestic violence call because we had gotten into a very heated argument and he slapped me and stormed out, but that was my fault, because I had hit him first. We had been arguing about his grades and how they were starting to slip even though he had been a 4.0 student

This year there was an African American man who died on the streets of New York. The man died for being accused of selling illegal cigarettes, but the truth is he was trying to break up a fight that took place moments before. The officers not knowing of the man’s condition, took him down with a chokehold allowing the man to have shortness of breath. Even though the officer was soon stripped of his gun and cost the city $30,000 it shows there are still people who will do whatever it takes to bring “Justice” to their homes. We hear on the news about crimes upon minorities every day, but we should also see that even though minorities will always be treated as minorities; Americans are also becoming minorities, and that should push us to treat each other as equals.

All across the nation, in the news the black community has been making their voice heard, in regards to white police brutality, and murder against the unarmed black community. Many of these brutal attacks and flat out murders of unarmed black people haven’t been largely prosecuted, some officers have even been acquitted of any wrong doing or murder. This has led to outrage in the African American community at large. The shooting of an unarmed black teen named Michael Brown caused the racial strain in this country to break.

I was trying to convince myself that this was not an epidemic, but a one-time case. I felt my stomach drop as headline after headline came up, basically saying the same thing: Black man is killed by police… fill in the blank (because he began to run, after being pulled over for a broken tail light, because officers thought he was carrying a gun). Most of these headlines became headlines because of a stereotype - that black men are more violent than men of other races. I decided I wanted to do something about it, and not because I felt guilty, but because I knew it was necessary. I became interested in a topic that I am still very passionate about today - social justice and equality. Suddenly, I was learning words that had been uttered in my friend group as I was growing up were racist or ableist, like the word “retarded.” I began reading articles and watching documentaries, not only on police brutality, but about a whole myriad of other topics, like what cultural appropriation is and why it is harmful. I heard the word “Islamophobia” for the first time at a diversity conference. I discovered that I could be judgmental of other people, especially women, and I began to unlearn some of the prejudice I had absorbed growing up. I attended the Women’s March on Washington. I participated in my school’s severely underdeveloped club for diversity and worked to make it more active and educational. I learned that being an activist

All across the nation, in the news the black community has been making their voice heard, in regards to white police brutality, and murder against the unarmed black community. Many of these brutal attacks and flat out murders of unarmed black people haven’t been largely prosecuted, some officers have even been acquitted of any wrong doing or murder. This has led to outrage in the African American community at large. The shooting of an unarmed black teen named Michael Brown caused the racial strain in this country to break.

“What are you following me for?” “You shot me. You shot me!” “Please don’t let me die” “Officer, why do you have your guns out?” “I can’t breathe.” “I don’t have a gun. Stop Shooting.”(The Last Words). These were some of the last words from victims of police brutality against African Americans. Police brutality has been occurring ever since the police force began, but recently, the police have been targeting African Americans. In 2016, more than 250 African Americans were killed by the police. Most of the victims were unarmed and have not committed a serious offense. These frightening statistics do not have to continue. If the average American recognized the severity of the issue and raised their voice, this inequity

On my way into high school, I began to flourish mentally. I already knew who I was as a person and who I wanted to become. My environment, although it was negative, is what truly turned me into the person I remain today and the person I happen to be. The America we live in today still has some growing up to do. My eyes began to open the in the summer of 2012.My family decided to take a trip to Florida in the middle or racial mayhem. The Trayvon Martin case ravaged Florida and it seemed like every television channel and radio station was broadcasting some part of it. Street posts clasped in “Justice for Trayvon” posters and calls for George Zimmerman, his killer, to be jailed for racial profiling him and murdering the 17 year old. My child like

Despite the fact that I was a Black girl, youngest of four children, and raised by a single mother in central Texas, I never felt different. My sense of sameness and security was ripped away on one Sunday evening I will never forget. During my junior year in high school, I was walking to the neighborhood corner store with two of my classmates, who were also Black. We rounded the corner down the main street, and noticed a rowdy

Some many cases that have affected my heart and have me thinking about what I should do as an African American women. I remember witnessing police brutality for the first time with the Sean Bell case. It was such a big story. I remember I was twelve when that happen and during Christmas and New Year’s Eve my family will talk about how tragic and angry they are about the case. But, what was so memorable about that case to me and what made my family so angry was Sean Bell and his friends were shot over 50 times on his wedding day. It’s almost make you realize that there is a war between black people and police

As an African-American, I've seen the world through a different lens than most of my contemporaries. Different attitudes and different perceptions have created this continual Gap and where my people and others stand in our country. Since the late 1800s after President Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves, African Americans have been fighting for basic rights that were promised to everybody else in the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. As we remember the Reverend dr. King On this day in January, we remember the values he fought for and what it means to have can Americans across the country in this present age. What this man, Louis Stokes of the Congressional Black Caucus understood was that if we hold together we will overcome. Heard

Over the last two years in the United States the African-American people have been fighting a war within our own backyards. The Washington Post reports that since January 2015, the police have shot and killed over 175 young black men ranging from ages 18-29; 24 of them were unarmed. On the flip side 172 young white men were killed, only 18 being unarmed. With these statistics there are similarities in the numbers but, blacks were killed at rates disproportional to their percentage of U.S population (1.Washington Post). Of all unarmed people shot and killed by police in 2015. With 40% being black men make up just 6% of the nation’s populations. In the wake of the killings of Mike Brown, Sandra Bland, Alton Sterling, and many more the world has been made more publicly aware of injustices black people have to handle when dealing with law enforcement. Crime in the black community is nothing new in the black community or should I say black on black crime. There is a bad stereotype that has been put on black people since slavery times that I believe has help fueled the violence between the police and my people.

Many don’t realize this, but our life is forever indebted in danger. Our life, as in, minorities. This isn’t a dream nor is it long overdue. It has been time and time again when African Americans are placed on the backburner as we watch the members of our communities and societies whom have less melanin than us take what they want believe is rightfully theirs. No one has ever took the time to seek what we deserve for all the horrible endangerment we’ve been put through for years and years to come. I believe that African Americans whom stand together in regards to the Black Lives Matter protest are fighting because we know of the injustice we have had to endure that dates back to so long ago that we just can’t stand on the sidelines